Ahmed Kamel – Egypt Daily News
Italian energy company Eni has begun start-up activities at the second phase of its Meleiha project in Egypt’s Western Desert, launching a new gas-processing facility designed to handle up to 100 million standard cubic feet of gas per day.
The project is being developed through Agiba Petroleum, a joint venture between Eni and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation. Its infrastructure includes development wells, production-gathering networks, main transport lines and a dedicated pipeline to carry gas into Egypt’s existing system.
The facility is intended to create a new processing hub within the Merged Meleiha concession, expanding the capacity to handle gas from fields in the area. Connecting new production to established infrastructure may allow output to reach the market more quickly and improve the efficiency of operations, the companies said.
The launch of start-up activities marks a step toward putting the new facilities into service; it does not, by itself, establish that the plant has reached full commercial production. The project’s designed capacity of 100 million cubic feet a day represents a potential processing limit, while actual throughput will depend on the volume of gas available from connected fields and the progress of commissioning.
The new infrastructure combines wells and collection systems with transport and export facilities. Gas from producing wells must first be gathered and moved through pipelines to processing equipment, where it can be treated to meet the requirements of the network. A dedicated export line will then connect the project to Egypt’s existing gas infrastructure.
The development is expected to support domestic gas availability and increase the value obtained from resources in the Western Desert. The region is one of Egypt’s established hydrocarbon-producing areas, alongside the Gulf of Suez, the Nile Delta and the Eastern Mediterranean. Eni operates across these regions through its subsidiaries and joint ventures, with activities spanning exploration, development and production.
Eni has worked in Egypt since 1954 and describes itself as the country’s largest energy producer. The company reported average hydrocarbon production of about 242,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2025, based on its equity share. That figure covers Eni’s wider Egyptian portfolio and should not be confused with the capacity of the Meleiha gas plant, which is measured in gas volume per day.
The company’s Egyptian operations also include major gas projects such as Zohr and Nooros, as well as participation in the Damietta liquefied natural gas plant. The Meleiha project adds to a portfolio that combines onshore production in the desert with offshore fields and gas-processing and export infrastructure.
For Egypt, developing additional local supplies is important as the country works to meet domestic demand while making better use of its energy resources. A new processing facility can help bring gas from nearby fields into the national network, but its contribution will depend on the ability to sustain production and connect wells on schedule. The project’s pipeline and gathering systems are therefore as important as the processing plant itself.
The development also highlights the role of joint ventures in Egypt’s petroleum sector. Agiba Petroleum brings together Eni and the state-owned Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation, linking international technical and investment capacity with Egypt’s national energy institutions. Such arrangements are widely used in the sector to develop fields and infrastructure, although the terms and responsibilities of individual projects can differ.
Eni said the facilities were developed with attention to operational performance, safety and environmental sustainability. The announcement did not specify the project’s total investment, the expected date for full commercial operation or the amount of gas the facility is currently processing.
As commissioning proceeds, key measures of progress will include the commissioning of connected wells and pipelines, the volume of gas entering the plant and the rate at which the facility reaches sustained operation. Those indicators will show how much the project adds to Egypt’s usable supply beyond its stated design capacity.
The Meleiha Phase 2 project thus represents a significant expansion of gas-processing infrastructure in the Western Desert, while its eventual contribution will depend on production from the surrounding fields and the pace of the remaining start-up work.
